This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C.xc2xa7119 of Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-401248, the abstract of disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ejector mechanism for card connector, which is mounted to a card connector for electrical card, such as an IC card or the like, and operative to eject a card loaded in the connector.
2. Description of Related Arts
The ejector mechanism of this type operates as follows. When a push rod is pressed when an IC card is loaded in the connector, an eject arm is rotated in association with the manipulated push rod so that a claw portion of the eject arm pushes the IC card toward front, thereby allowing the IC card to be readily extracted as held between fingers.
However, the push rod is projected toward front when the IC card is loaded and hence, a fear exists that the projected push rod may be inadvertently manipulated to eject the connected IC card which is not to be ejected.
As a solution, there has been proposed an ejector mechanism for card connector which comprises a frame formed with a heart-shaped cam groove having a lock portion; a push rod manipulated to eject an electrical card loaded in the connector; urging means for urging the push rod in its returning direction; a drive member engaged with the push rod to be reciprocated along the frame in conjunction with the reciprocal movement of the push rod; and a transmission pin retained by the drive member and circulated in the cam groove along one direction in conjunction with the reciprocal movement of the push rod (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11 (1999)-86966).
According to the ejector mechanism, when the electrical card is not loaded, the urging means holds the transmission pin in engagement with the lock portion of the cam groove, thereby maintaining the push rod in a pressed position. When the electrical card is loaded, the transmission pin is moved along the circulating direction of the heart-shaped cam groove for allowing the push rod to move from the pressed position to a projected position. While the push rod is moved from the projected position to a pressed position, the drive member operates to rotate the eject arm thereby ejecting the electrical card.
The transmission pin is pivotally supported by the frame. The pivotal transmission pin is urged against a bottom of the cam groove by means of a leaf spring.
Unfortunately, the transmission pin and the leaf spring for urging the pin are independent components, which not only require a cumbersome assembly work but also lead to unstable operations of the mechanism. Furthermore, because of a great number of components, the ejector mechanism has increased costs of components and assembly work, resulting in increased fabrication costs. In addition, the ejector mechanism has a large size.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the invention to provide an ejector mechanism for card connector, which contributes to the reduction of cost and space and also ensures reliable operations.
In accordance with a preferred aspect of the invention for achieving the above object, an ejector mechanism for card connector for ejecting an electrical card loaded in a connector comprises a frame formed with a heart-shaped cam groove having a lock portion; a reciprocally movable push rod manipulated to eject the electrical card loaded in the connector; urging means for urging the push rod in its returning direction; a drive member engaged with the push rod to be reciprocated along the frame in conjunction with a reciprocal movement of the push rod; a transmission pin retained by the drive member and circulated in the cam groove along a predetermined circulating direction in conjunction with the reciprocal movement of the push rod; and a resilient cantilever arm having a fixed end and a free end. The fixed end of the cantilever arm is secured to the drive member whereas the free end thereof defines a bent projection, which defines the transmission pin. The cantilever arm utilizes its own resilience for urging the transmission pin against a bottom of the cam groove.
According to the embodiment, the cantilever arm has its fixed end secured to the drive member while utilizing its own resilience for urging the transmission pin constituting a part thereof. As compared with the conventional mechanism wherein the transmission pin and the leaf spring for urging the pin are separate components, the embodiment is decreased in fabrication costs because of the smaller numbers of components and assembly steps. The embodiment further contributes to downsizing. Furthermore, since the cantilever arm has its fixed end secured to the drive member, the transmission pin is allowed to operate in a very stable manner. As a result, the ejector mechanism can ensure reliable operations.